Skip to content

Literary ‘cross-dressing’ at festival

Author Susan Musgrave at EMLF
12370346_web1_SusanMusgrave2
Susan Musgrave will be appearing at the Elephant Mountain Literary Festival in Nelson from July 12 to 15. Blaise Enright and Barry Peterson photo

SUBMITTED

Black Press

Multi-award-winning author Susan Musgrave offers a talk on the writing craft that promises to be both colourful and illuminating. “Literary Cross-Dressing” takes place on Thursday, July 12 at 7:30 pm at the Nelson Public Library.

“When poetry, prose and creative non-fiction start slipping into one another. Call it cross-genre, mixed genre, blurred boundaries—if you can establish genre lines, then you can cross them,” explains Musgrave.

Musgrave should know: she has excelled in poetry, fiction, non-fiction, and children’s literature, publishing 19 poetry collections, four novels, several collections of essays, and books for children. Her most recent book, A Taste of Haida Gwaii (2015), combines recipes and stories from her life on the remote island chain.

Musgrave teaches in the University of B.C. creative writing department’s optional residency Master of Fine Arts program. She is a recipient of the Spirit Bear Award for her contribution to the poetry of the Pacific Northwest, and the Matt Cohen Award in recognition of a lifetime of distinguished work by a Canadian writer.

“Her artistic presence over the past 40 years has helped create who we are,” wrote poet Patrick Lane. “She is as important to us as Emily Carr.”

Admission to the talk is by donation ($5 suggested).

The 5th annual Elephant Mountain Literary Festival runs July 12 – 15 in Nelson. This year’s featured presenters include Musgrave, Esi Edyugan, Steven Price, Rayya Liebich, Jordan Mounteer, and Sean Arthur Joyce.

The Library is pleased to be a partner of the Festival, which also includes hosting one-on-one critique sessions with Musgrave for 12 local writers through the Holley Rubinsky Memorial Blue Pencil Sessions, named for the late Kaslo author.

Musgrave will also appear at the Saturday Night Live! event at the Hume Hotel on July 14 and take part in panel discussions Saturday afternoon. For information and tickets go to www.emlfestival.com.